Father Estephan was one of the kinder souls I met in my early days on the religion beat. In his lovely Middle Eastern accent, he graciously welcomed me to St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in downtown Grand Rapids. He taught me much about the faith and invited me to coffee.

The Rev. John Estephan

We never went to coffee, although he’d always extend the invite in later conversations. I wish I’d made the time for it in my busy schedule, especially now he has joined the heavenly host at age 92.

But I’ll always be grateful for the kindness he showed me, and the wisdom he shared about the mysterious world of religion, about which I had so much to learn.

Another man left this world last Sunday, far from Grand Rapids and very far indeed from the goodness of a devout priest. Men like Father Estephan make a strong case for the value of religion; men like Osama bin Laden make a mockery of it.

Religious ethicists have wrestled thoughtfully with what should be the appropriate reaction to the death of this evil man. I have not worried much about mine.

I never rejoice in the killing of a human being and feel no sense of celebration in this one.

But I am glad bin Laden is out of this world. We have problems enough without him, and sometimes you really do reap what you sow.

Osama bin Laden

We may be excused for a collective sigh of relief, but there’s no excuse for gloating or relaxing. There’s far too much to do, right here in West Michigan, to dwell on the death of a single terrorist.

That also was the feeling of a worshipper at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church following morning Mass on Monday. I had gone there to take the pulse of parishioners about bin Laden’s death, just as I had on that terrible September morning when he cast a dark veil over a bright sky.

As overwhelmed with shock as worshipers were then, they were decidedly underwhelmed now.

“I think it’s good that we brought some end to some of this, but it’s just one person,” said a soft-spoken woman named Jan. “It goes back to finding Christ. There’s not going to be peace without that.”

Nearby, Helen Lehman watched as workers began rebuilding the front steps of St. Al’s. She politely obliged my questions about bin Laden, but I had the distinct feeling she was more concerned about finding people affordable housing.

That’s what she does as executive director of New Development Corp., a nonprofit that fixes up houses and teaches people how to buy and maintain them. She’s also president of Catherine’s Health Center, a clinic for low-income people operating out of the former St. Alphonsus Catholic School.

The kind of work those and other agencies do is more relevant to daily life in West Michigan than dramatic anti-terrorist operations on the other side of the world. And it is something we can do something about.

So is the work of North End Community Ministry, an agency not far from St. Alphonsus that provides food and clothing to low-income families.

I had the honor of speaking at NECM’s fundraising banquet last Saturday night. People gathered at Sunshine Community Church to support the agency, now in its 40th year and in need of funds for a larger, wheelchair-accessible facility.

The guests politely endured my singing of “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love,” which aptly expresses the giving spirit of NECM and other ministries. I much prefer it to “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Weak Coffee and Liturgical Study Committees.”

NECM is affiliated with ACCESS, which this morning holds its annual Hunger Walk — one of the worthiest ways Christians and others of goodwill show their love around here.

Walking to fight hunger, providing health care and clothing, voting to support public schools and better bus service — these are ways we strengthen community here while soldiers fight terrorists abroad.

If bin Laden’s death helps us better focus on the needs at hand by giving us one less thing to worry about, that will be far more useful than celebrating.